


Eyes On Tomorrow

by QueenieWithABeenie



Category: RWBY
Genre: And emotional, College AU, F/F, F/M, I cried and so will you, I literally copy/pasted my real life into RWBY, It’s gonna get real heavy, LGBT characters, Lots of big gumb gay, M/M, Social Issues, The AU no one asked for, based on real life, modernverse
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-13
Updated: 2019-07-14
Packaged: 2020-06-27 08:28:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 14,465
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19787098
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/QueenieWithABeenie/pseuds/QueenieWithABeenie
Summary: In which the leaders of RWBY find themselves at Leadership Training Camp for the Headmaster’s Leadership Academy at Beacon University. Can a rag-tag group of misfits and mischievous students overcome the challenges of not only balancing the workload, but the crazy shenanigans of the staff? But even more importantly, can they overcome their differences and prejudices to form the bond required to survive their time at Beacon University, all while learning what it takes to become strong leaders?





	1. A Note the Readers

Hello!

Recently, there had been a slight change in my schedule, which is preventing me form working on more frequent updates. Also, because this is so heavily based on an actual event, I need to take a bit of time to actually _remember what the hell happened_ , because most of it is still an absolute blur of chaos. 

So please bear with me. I'm trying. 

Let’s get all the housekeeping things out of the way, then we’ll dive into the actual story. 

This is all based on true events, specifically the leadership training camp I’m currently at for the “President’s” Leadership Academy at my university. So that being said, all of these events are real, and the lessons are the exact ones I’m sitting through at this very moment. This is also all a Modern Metaverse, and they are all human, so certain Faunus characteristics have been altered with various backstories and whatnot to adhere to some sense of cannon material. 

Anyways;

After my first week, I was able to really get a feel for my cohot’s personalities (and may or may not have wrote a speech about Wilt and Blush for Oral Communication, oops), I wondered what would happen if all the team leaders from Remnant’s Hunstman Academies were tossed into this exact situation. 

That being said, most of the story is told from Adam’s perspective, as he is the character I find the most interesting an can relate to the most. Horrible, I know, but I’m a criminology major and I love picking apart the psyches of sociopaths like him. Also, his cannon counterpart is the _exact definition_ of what _not_ to do as a servant-leader, so I’m curious to see how this iteration of him will fare in the environment I’m in right now, and what he’ll do with the morals and virtues being taught. At the end of each chapter or section, I’ll add “Special Information Notes” about how I developed the chapter and characters based on how a specific event played out and how it worked its way into the story, and obviously what details were purely fabricated. Because let’s be honest, I spend most of my days taking notes in three hour lecture classes. No one wants to read that. 

Now, “Eyes on Tomorrow” is broken down into five parts at the moment, and are as follows:  
1 - The Taurus Rose (completed)

2 - Sunshine and Lollipops (in progress)

3 - The Honeymoon Phase 

4 - Nevermore 

5 - Start at the Top 

I may add parts here and there, or reorder them, so keep an eye out.

There will definetly be drama, but nothing horrible. However, it might get a bit uncomfortable when it comes to the identities of certain characters and by extension, some social issues. 

To sum it all up, this is a huge personal experiment, but hopefully it makes a good story.

-Will


	2. The Taurus Rose - Letters Home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When life gives you lemons....

* * *

_Dear Parent/Guardian,_

_We regret to inform you that your son/daughter has not been selected to become a member of the Headmaster’s Leadership Academy this year, but has been added to the wait list._

_The selection process this year was very difficult, and our staff struggled to select so few of the applicants and interviewees._

_Your status as an applicant to the university does not depend on your admittance to this program, and we are eager to see you on campus this fall as a student._

_With Sincere Regret,_

_Professor Xavier Ozpin, PhD._

_University President_

Adam Taurus sighed deeply and tipped his head side to side, neck cracking rather obnoxiously. He laid back on his bed, heels resting up on the wall and head hanging over the side. Adam’s eyes lapsed in and out of focus, locked on the general area around his closet door.

 _Another one bites the dust,_ he thought bitterly. Over six months had passed since he had submitted his application, and three had passed since the weekend of interrogations and group workshops that they called “an interview”. Adam had had little faith in himself going into the entire mess, but had played along for the sake of those around him. In his opinion, he had entirely bombed the one-on-one and one-on-two interviews (the most important ones), and didn’t expect to even be put on the wait list, but it still stung a little bit. The scholarship would have been the determining factor between a more prestigious four-year school and a community college. Adam was in no position to deal with a fortune in student loans. He didn’t even want to imagine the number or how long it would take to pay off. Hell, his father had died with student loans left to pay -thank the gods such loans die with the student.

The door on the far side of the room cracked open and Adam’s mother, a short, stocky woman with a mess of brown hair, poked her head in the room.

“I saw the envelope on the counter,” she began cautiously, no doubt already knowing what the letter said since her son wasn’t bouncing off the walls with excitement. “What did they say?”

Wordlessly, Adam draped an arm over his eyes and thrust the letter out towards her. He could hear her footsteps drawing closer, blending with the pounding of his blood rushing to his head. Once she took the paper, Adam let his arm go limp at his side. He considered sitting up, but that was too much effort. When his mother continued to sift through the rest of the papers that had come in the packet without speaking, Adam wondered what her reaction would be. Would she attempt to coddle and sooth him? Surely by now she knew that he would shrug it off as if nothing had happened and then deal with it himself later on. Or would she turn into an overprotective mother hen and rant to the university about how she likely believed the process to be unfair. That would just be humiliating, Adam concluded. He was an adult, he could handle his own stack of rejection letters without her interference.

He heard the rustle of her denim skirt as she knelt down to his level, and uncovered one of his eyes.

“I’m sorry, honey.”

Adam had to bite back the urge to bring out his attitude. She was going to try and coddle him like an infant or child. “For?”

“I know how hard you worked for this.” She looked like she was contemplating moving his arms away from his face, but was clearly thinking better of it. ”If you’re still wanting to go to Beacon, we can worry about tuition when the time comes. We’ll figure-”

“Signal is fine, Mom.” Adam made sure she was a safe distance away before swinging his body around into a sitting position on his bed. “I can get out and into the workforce sooner that way.”

The woman sighed, clearly surprised by his lack of resistance. “Are you sure, Adam? You’ve been talking about studying criminology for as long as I can-“

“Mom,” The redhead hugged a pillow to his chest, trying to put up some sort of physical barrier between them in the hopes that he could block her redundant attempts to “take his mind off the bad”. ”It’s fine. I It’s not like Signal is a bad school. They have a decent applied sciences program that I could use as a springboard into criminology later on. There’s options, and Beacon is clearly not where I’m supposed to be.”

His mother was silent for a long moment, the only noise coming when she decided it was a good idea to sit on the edge of his bed a few feet away from him. At one point, she reached out to pat his shoulder, but Adam caught the beginnings of the gesture and scooted away. Physical comfort just was not his thing. She seemed to figure out that her son was not in the mood for a discussion at that point, and that she was going to get absolutely nowhere with whatever weak point she had considered making, and sighed in defeat.

“Don’t forget about that optometrist’s appointment tomorrow morning.” She changed topics rather awkwardly as she stood. “I know you’re not the biggest fan of mornings, so please set your alarm and make sure you’re up on time so we can get there?”

Adam nodded absently, storing away her request for later. When she was finally gone, Adam discarded the pillow and flopped face-first onto the bed, long legs kicked out behind him. From above, it was likely that he resembled an awkward starfish. Eventually, he curled his arms around his pillow under his chest and buried his nose into the cotton pillowcase. It still smelled like his mother’s lavender laundry soap, and Adam made a note to himself regarding who washed the towels and bedding from there on out.

Not that lavender was bad, Adam just had a certain liking for cinnamon and cloves.

Or roses, but that was entirely beside the point. The redhead had already decided that rose was not an acceptable scent of cologne or aftershave, but even that still didn’t fully deter him from using rose-scented shampoos.

Blake had yet to let him live down that particular quirk.

Without looking at his phone or the wall clock, Adam had no real idea of how long he’d been face-down on the pillow, debating whether or not to take a nap or just suffocate himself right then and there. The latter seemed like a nice idea, but at the same time, sleep was just death with benefits; all the nice perks of being dead but with no real commitment. Adam could live with that, he concluded. He would simply commit to sleeping for the next four years and pretend he had gone to college.

Adam finally sat up and allowed himself a moment to adjust to the sudden change in posture before standing and walking to the window. There was just enough room for him to sit on the sill comfortably, and that was precisely what he did, shoulder leaning against the glass with one leg pulled up to his chest. He rested his chin on his knee and let his blue eyes wander out the window at the city below. As small and cramped as it was, his family’s apartment had a breathtaking view of Mantle’s skyline, especially after dark

The sky had only just begun to take on hues of pastel pink and orange in the west, and the moon was already fully visible. Adam still was not used to the morbid beauty of the shattered moon, no matter how many nights he watched it move across the skies over Mantle. It always felt like some cosmic deity had clamped a hand over his heart, preventing him from breathing properly. Part of him felt infinitely insignificant, but the vastness of the heavens always made him wonder what exactly his place was in the universe. A low-class young man with impaired vision and a burning ambition that was often too big for his own lanky body. What did Mantle have to offer other than a life as a factory worker or drug dealer? No one in his place would ever step foot on Atlas, that much was certain. Adam was convinced that he was too poor to even breathe in the general direction of the island. Not that it mattered, the view was breathtaking, but the people were horrible. He’d had a few encounters, and had been left unimpressed.

Adam let out a long breath, successfully fogging up the cold glass of the window, and let his mind wander to the letter, then back to his interviews and essays. Where had he gone wrong? Was it the essays? He’d never been the best at English, history was always his strong suit. Did he use the wrong definition of “servant leadership”? it was such an obscure and abstract concept that had only been developed in the past thirty or so years, maybe he just hadn’t been able to grasp it well enough to pick out his own values. Or was it the interviews? Adam knew he was a good speaker and was comfortable in most social situations, but he’d panicked at the two-on-one interview. The questions he was asked didn’t line up with his expectations and the monologue about how he wanted to be at the forefront of humanity’s next step in evolution that he’d carefully crafted and rehearsed. Most of them had thrown him for a loop, and he found himself stuttering and stumbling through poorly constructed answers. The group work had gone relatively well, but the fact that he’d been under a microscope with five strangers had set his nerves on edge. The prompts were touchy and difficult, and a few of them had made him a bit uncomfortable at first.

In the fogged splotch of window, Adam slowly traced a rose, like the one he was planning on turning into a tattoo at some point in his life. He’d always loved roses for some obscure reason. Maybe it was because they were dangerous, but beautiful. If not handled carefully, a rose can draw painful blood.

_...has been added to the wait list..._

It wasn’t entirely hopeless, Adam concluded. There was still a chance that another prospective student would drop out of the program, allowing him the chance to step in. It was terrible, but Adam prayed that someone would. As much as he persisted the counter, Beacon University was his only real shot at making a good life for himself, and the scholarship would keep him out of debt for the foreseeable future.

Another heavy sigh.

Adam tipped his head back against the wall and looked out across Mantle. The run-down city was bathed in the soft orange light of a spring evening as the sun danced across the ocean in the distance, sinking slowly below the horizon like a fallen ship. Absently, he raised a hand to cover his right eye. Sure enough, the once-beautiful view dulled, becoming a mess of bland colors and vague shapes. He was colorblind, at the very least. Or partially blind. Either way, it was a pain in the ass.

The injury had been the result of a nasty accident he’d been involved in during his 10th year of school, and as a result, Adam had been left with ugly scars across the left side of his face, neck, and even a few over the rest of his body, and ruined vision. He’d learned to make due, needing glasses to read and special eye drops to prevent infection. The scars had put a substantial dent in his self-confidence, and it was months before he’d felt comfortable enough to leave the house without some kind of makeup or hood to cover his face. Even then, he tended to gravitate more towards hoodies.

A shiver ran down his spine, prompting him to move reluctantly from the window. Adam cast one more look out at the rising night before turning away and closing the curtains. The view made him feel a very specific emotion, one that he could never quite pinpoint, but knew very well regardless. Maybe one day, Adam figured, something would click and he would understand it. Be able to put a name to it. But that was not this night.

A shower and a mug of hot nettle tea settled his nerves enough to let him focus on the remainder of his schoolwork. But the moment he opened up his unfinished essay about the proper protocols of crime scene investigation, Adam’s mind shot back to the essays he’d written for the scholarship and his eyes wandered back to the window.

 _No_ , he told himself, _everything happens like it’s supposed to._

He resorted to droning out his thoughts in a sea of old-school EDM, hopeful that he could force his way through the remainder of the report.

There was still a chance, no mater how slim, that someone would drop out.

He could still make it.

Three things were wrong after school that day.

First, his mother’s car was in the parking lot when he left the building. She never picked him up from school, not since he’d insisted on taking the bus to help her avoid the awful traffic of downtown Mantle.

Second was the array of missed calls from his mother, as well as one unknown number that seemed to be rather persistent. The area code was unfamiliar, a wrong number? Not that many calls in a row...

And third, Adam himself felt wrong. The air that day had been strange, lit up with seven kinds of anxiety and the looming shadow of some massive and unexpected change. As far as he knew, there was no upcoming or in-progress Retrograde or Lilith moon. For as much of his confidence he’d regained, his nerves had been flooded with unease and an unidentifiable anxiety all day.

His mother’s first line when he slid into the car had been “We need to talk.”

Never a good opener, especially coming from a parent.

Adam swallowed harshly, but managed to keep himself outwardly calm. “About..?”

“You not having a voicemail set up on your phone.”

Ah. So it was simply her being nit-picky about his technology habits.

She continued. “Because the university tried to call you today. Ghira wasn’t thrilled when he couldn’t get ahold of you.”

Adam felt his heart fly into his throat and was only able to eek out a strangled and inquisitive croaking sound. He knew the name, but his brain had entirely shut down the minute he’d seen his mother. In place of a verbal answer, the woman handed Adam her phone, which already had the mystery number dialed. It was ringing. Adam panicked, but held it to his ear.

“Hello?”

“ _Adam Taurus?_ ” The voice was deep and rough, and everything clicked. 

Despite the formalities, Adam would know the voice anywhere; it was Blake’s father. 

He stumbled over his reply. “Y-Yes sir?”

“ _I’m calling in regards to your application to the Headmaster’s Leadership Academy at Beacon University in Vale. How are you?”_

Adam wanted to make a remark about the man’s method of changing topics, but decided against it. Clearly, he was a man in power. “I’m well sir, thank your for asking.” His mother shot him a warning glare and Adam hurried to return the question.

“ _It’s a good day, I’m happy to say. Now, Adam, as I understand it, you were put on the wait list for the Academy, correct?”_

“Yes.”

_“Right. So there was a development, and as it stands, I am calling to extend an offer on behalf of Beacon. Would you still be willing to join the Academy as a member of the HLA?”_

Adam choked on the lump in his throat. “I-” It took him an awkwardly long moment to regain his composure enough to answer properly, but even then, he couldn’t force away the raw excitement and joy in his voice. “Yes sir, I would like that very much!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Special Information Note:  
> The letter Adam received, as well as the call, are almost word-for-word how mine happened in real life, so there’s actually a small amount of self-projection into Adam’s character, simply because he’s the one I want to play with the most and can back up his story based on my own experience. It’s gonna be interesting to write his orientation days and first day at the university. Mine certainly were...


	3. The Taurus Rose - Spaces Between

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Do you ponder the manner of things in the dark...?

Adam’s admittance into the Academy became a bit of an afterthought, a little tiny nightlight in the back of his mind. With the end of his 12th year drawing to a close, he had too many other concerns to balance and prioritize. Finals were at the forefront of his thoughts, especially chemistry. Adam was horrible at chemistry. With any luck at all, he’d be able to squeak through the class with a point or two to spare, but only if he aced the exam, which would be an astonishing feat in itself. 

He’d found a relatively decent corner of the Mantle Public Library where he could hole up for hours away from the distractions of home to keep him from his work, and had his nose stuffed in a stack of textbooks and meticulously organized notes. Walking past, one could faintly hear the sound of off-brand country music drifting from his headphones, another desperate attempt to keep his focus. The distorted lyrics were all but lost as he hyperfocused himself on the equations and formulas sprawled out in front of him.

_...rise up, ting ting, like glitter and gold..._

Adam dropped his head onto the desk and buried his hands in his messy hair, letting out a long puff of exhausted air. He was going to be studying criminal justice, not forensic science. He didn’t need chemistry, right?

Yeah, actually he did, according to the Mantle school system. And so did his forensic science minor, Adam scolded himself for not remembering that part.

A nearby buzzing caught his attention, but Adam was too tired to actually pick his head up, and settled for holding the phone in his lap with his forehead resting on the edge of the desk. Of course his mother would be insisting that he “get his butt home and take it easy on himself for once”. Adam gnawed on the inside of his cheek as he formulated his argument for why he should stay right where he was for at least another hour. Or until he mastered the lesson he was working his way through.

Another buzz. Adam half-expected a rebuttal from his mother, but was pleasantly surprised to see that it was just a friend.

**_Glitter and Gold: hey jackass, your shits ready. Ever gonna come collect?_ **

Adam pressed his lips into a thin, annoyed line.

_**Yep. I’ll stop over on my way back home. Thx Miri** _

_**Glitter and Gold: yeah yeah, shut your yap and visit me, prick** _

The boy sighed and leaned back in the chair before attempting to tame his messy hair. Not that it would do him any good. He had his father’s hair. Thick and perpetually unruly. It was mildly annoying, to be perfectly honest. But Blake loved to play with it until it looked at least somewhat tamed. That thought alone made him smile to himself a little bit.

He missed her. But that was understandable now that she had left Mantle. Adam hoped he could see her in the fall. He knew she’d applied to Beacon, but she hadn’t heard back yet about being accepted or not.

_Buzz._

_**Glitter and Gold: hey, getcha ass over here asap. this place is crawling with Fang members and I could use the backup.** _

Adam’s eyes narrowed, brows drawing down and together in concern.

_**On it.** _

Without hesitation, Adam scooped up his books and stuffed them in his bag before slinging it over his shoulder and feeling his pockets for the knife he kept on his person at all times.

Recently, mafia activity in the area had become more and more prevalent, and despite the already-chaotic state of the run-down city, they were quickly becoming more and more violent, and more and more of a problem. Miranda Olivete had been one of Adam’s closest friends for as long as he could remember, and one of the most talented blacksmiths he knew, despite her age. It came as no surprise that the White Fang had likely taken to harassing her family’s business. If they were smart, they would try to make a proper business deal instead. Adam knew full well that Miranda could handle herself in a fight if it came down to it, but he didn’t want to leave her alone, just in case. Her lack of hearing could be an issue from time to time, and the redhead didn’t want to run any risks.

Besides, she’d been helping him restore a Taurus family heirloom, and she’d just informed him that it was ready. He had a solid reason to be at the Olivete Company store that evening, and if anything happened, that’s exactly what he would tell the authorities.

Miranda Olivete was in no immediate danger when he arrived, but that didn’t keep him from gripping the butterfly knife in his jacket pocket just a little bit tighter when he spotted the surprising number of mafia grunts loitering in the area. The young woman had her back to the door when Adam entered the main store.

That was the first mistake.

Adam body tensed when he heard footsteps following him inside. Never a good sign in that part of the city. So he ignored it and continued to the counter where Miranda was tinkering with a pile of spare gun parts. He pressed the button that sent an alert to her watch and she spun around. Her eyes went wide at the sight of the men that had followed Adam, but he made a series of small signs that warned her play it cool. If they had a problem, Adam would intervene. Miranda nodded, suddenly very cheerful and bubbly as she reached under the counter to find Adam’s order. It would be no surprise to him if she took the time to load her own gun and tuck it in her waistband.

Adam waited patiently, leaning sideways on the countertop and keeping an inconspicuous eye on the other three. They were close to his build, nothing the pair couldn’t handle. But they were White Fang, an organization he’d had his own dealings with in both the recent and distant past. They would listen to him if it came down to a negotiation.

Miranda popped back up with the long box and signed for Adam to open it and inspect her work. He did as told, happily pulling a rich red scabbard from the box and unsheathing the katana inside. The blade was several shades brighter than the scabbard, nearly as red as fresh blood. The sound the katana made when being drawn against its housing was like music to his ears, and he felt a moment of pity for Miranda, who would never be able to hear it for herself.

“It’s beautiful,” he said, smiling calmly. “Thank you.” Their exchange would remain relatively normal as long as possible, and Adam was suddenly grateful that she’d earned to read lips.

The tension in the air shot up when the tallest of the grunts tried to gain Miranda’s attention. Adam was quick to warn her, and followed orders when she told him to stand back and be ready. Her own voice was carefully practiced, and Adam was proud to see that she no longer had to hold a hand to her throat to find her speech patterns. The conversation wasn’t going to end well, Adam could already tell. The man was pestering her about a very particular kind of order, and wasn’t listening when Miranda -the expert in the room- tried to inform him of the legal situation surrounding what was being asked of her. But the look in her eyes was all Adam needed to be told to stay back. It was not until the raspy-voiced one made a foul remark about her voice that Adam thought about intervening, and his hand tightened around the scabbard.

Another comment was made and Adam could see Miranda quickly loosing her composure. He couldn’t let it continue.

“Excuse, me sir, but is there an issue here?” Adam spoke calmly and professionally, grip loosening on his weapon before he set it on the counter in front of Miranda, who rested her own hands over it protectively.

The taller man spoke first, his voice annoyingly gruff. Adam concluded that he smoked far too much. “What’s it to ya, boy?”

A small smile tugged at the corner of Adam’s lips as he shrugged casually. “Yes, she’s deaf. What of it? She has a voice, just like you and I, and she can understand every word you and I say. I see no issues. Do you?”

“The issues I’m seein’ are all wit yer friend bein’ too stubborn for her own good,” The man took a step closer to Adam, enough that he could smell the scents of cigars and cheap bourbon around him.

Adam took a a step back. “And why is that, sir? I believe that she knows what’s best for her own business. And from the sound of things, what’s best for her in a manner of legalities.” At his side, Miranda could see his hand forming the letters to a set of instructions. It was nothing more than a nervous tick to the untrained eye, and more than enough to signal her to his plans. They had to deal with the men, quickly.“I’m sure the White Fang’s don has more important things to do than harass the local blacksmith?”

“And just who’d’ya think you are, kid?” The raspy-voiced man butted in, but not before Adam finished the last bit of the phrase. Miranda shot him a knowing smile and nod. The taller man picked up on the exchange, and his bewildered look was enough to amuse Adam a bit. There was a soft round of clicks as the cheap thugs cocked their guns, ready for the inevitable. Their leader seemed to finally recognize him. “Wait...”

Adam couldn’t help but laugh to himself. “Yes, Kerian’s son. One of these days, you’ll know my name, and not just his.” Adam heard the soft scrape of his scabbard being slid closer to his waiting hand and reached for it, drawing it in one swift motion as Miranda revealed her own weapon. The thugs jumped to action, opening fire on Adam and Miranda. The latter of the two flung her body over the counter effortlessly, her movements all alarmingly similar to that of a snake, impossibly fluid and precise. Adam was almost caught off guard when the raspy grunt took a swing at him, and he blocked the fist with the scabbard like he’d been taught. He ducked to avoid another haphazard blow, now using the scabbard like a club against the raspy man’s ribs. The force Adam put behind the blow was enough to knock the man away from him, and he was able to focus on the silent one and help Miranda. Adam’s eyes darted around the room, and was mildly impressed by Miranda and her prowess. She’d taught him everything he knew, and he’d idolized her for years. Or course she’d be able to take on a pair of White Fang thugs.

“Seven!” Miranda’s warning came just in time for Adam to duck and smack the gun away from the man. He was reluctant to draw the katana, but he would if it was necessary. Fishing around in his pocket, Adam flicked his knife open and held it near his face defensively. He and the man circled each other threateningly for along moment before he pounced, sending Adam flying into a display. The boy didn’t let himself over think before countering, recalling what he’d been taught in anatomy about the nervous system and the most sensitive places on the human body. A well placed kick to the silent man’s sternum disoriented him long enough for Adam to push the butt of the scabbard into his voice box, and the man stumbled, coughing violently. It wouldn’t take much to knock him the rest of the way out. As he’d hoped, Miranda caught the opening and nodded to Adam, who grinned in excitement. He braced his stance and held the scabbard as if to defend from a high blow as Miranda ran towards him and leapt into the air. Using Adam and the scabbard as a spring board, she got enough power behind her strikes to successfully take the raspy man and the silent thug out of the fight. When she landed, Adam took his place beside her and drew the katana from its scabbard, pointing it to the throat of the leader.

“I suggest you tell your boss that the Olivete Company will not be a target for your harassment and disturbances,” Adam said evenly. He knew there was a dangerous edge to his voice, and he knew that even Miranda could sense the underlying threats that loomed in the air as she glared down the bridge of her freckled nose at the thug. She winked at Adam, and he drove the sword into the wood floor beside the man’s head. It was more than enough to scare him, and he scampered towards the door as fast as he could.

With him gone, Miranda turned to Adam and signed to him, “I’ll call the cops to deal with these two, but you should get lost as quick as you can. I head about you going to Beacon in the fall. I’m proud of you.”

He nodded with a more genuine smile, sheathing the katana with a satisfying scrape. “Thanks, Danny. And I’m proud of you too. I know it’s hard to stand up to those pricks.”

Miranda relaxed her posture, but even then, she still stood at almost eye-level with Adam. She reached out and patted his shoulder lightly before wrapping her arm the rest of the way around him for a small hug.

“Get lost, you sentimental sap.”

Adam laughed, knowing that she was at least able to feel it. “You love me.”

Miranda pulled away and made a face that could only be described as pure sass. “That’s debatable.”

This time, Adam was the one to initiate the embrace. He hated having to wait to continue speaking to her, but it was a necessary irritation to bear. “Take care of yourself Miranda. If those asses give you anymore trouble, let me know. One call, that’s all I need to make to get them off your tail.”

The blacksmith nodded in appreciation, making a sign that had no definitive translation. But Adam knew what she was trying to convey and he rested a hand on her shoulder, giving it a reassuring squeeze before he stepped over the bodies and out the door.

In the scuffle at Miranda’s shop, Adam had missed several calls from Blake, and had a flood of concerned messages from her filling up his phone screen. He let out a long breath, deciding to only answer her messages with an apology and a promise to explain later. The exhaustion of the fight was finally hitting him, and it was all Adam could do to stay awake on the bus ride back to his neighborhood.

By the time Adam was finally able to shut himself in his room that night, the moon was high in the sky, still perfectly visible through the small and quickly moving clouds. As usual, he perched himself in the windowsill with a mug of hot chamomile tea and looked up at the stars. Miranda had brought up his attendance to Beacon in the fall, and his mind drifted back to the summer program he was supposed to be attending in the middle of the summer. An entire month in Vale with no chance to go home. Classes that needed to be passes and weekends packed with team building exercises with fourteen other people he’d never really met. Of course, he’d met most of the people he’d be around at the interviews, but he’d never remember them. Not on a whim. The idea of it all was a bit unnerving, and even through he’d never readily admit it, Adam was petrified.

His eyes turned to the the moon, at the end of its present cycle as it looked almost entirely whole that night, and he wondered if, in the vastness of the black infinity before him, there was a place for him to just be. He’d wrestled for month with himself just to decide his major in school, what with all of his plans to join the military now gone right alongside his vision and the touch of asthma he’d come to deal with. It was annoying, but he was slowly growing more confident in his decisions to at least work in law enforcement.

The moon tucked itself behind a cloud and Adam looked out over Mantle and its night life. It was likely that three people had died or been critically injured each minute he was lost in thought, likely as a result of a drug deal gone wrong or other gang-related activity. The statistics rolled over in his head, and Adam assumed there had also been a suicide and several near-oversees as well, and he drew in a long, deep breath. There had been a time when he’d worried endlessly each night about Blake and Miranda’s safety, but Blake had moved away months ago, and Miranda no longer lived in the rough part of the city, and the majority of his worry was gone.

He’d spoken with Blake for hours after his mother had practically forced dinner down his throat, and she’d been ecstatic to reveal that she’d been accepted to Beacon as well. That had made Adam feel five kinds of happy, and he wished he’d been able to pick her up and hug her for as proud as he was. And they would be able to see each other around the campus, and maybe they’d even have classes together at some point during the prerequisites they’d be forced to take. He could hear her excitement as well, which only made him happier. It felt good to know that he still had her, even after they’d been separated for so many months.

But it was also bittersweet, the decision to follow through with Beacon. It was so far from home... He wasn’t sure what to do with that knowledge, and it certainly wouldn’t be fun to toy with in his thoughts. There were so many different outcomes... What would be the reality?

Adam was sure he’d spent most of the night simply confiding in the stars about his fears and hesitations, and it came as no surprise that when he did finally climb into bed for the night, he left the curtains open to let the moonlight flood his room and wash over the bed. There was just something about the way the moonlight sliced through the crossbeams in the window, the silver light meshing with the ridiculous amount of red splashed throughout the room. It was inexplicably comforting, and Adam had never really been able to pinpoint when he’d noticed it’s cold beauty. It was more than enough to lull him to sleep, clinging to his pillow as if it was his lifeline. Some mornings, he’d wake up and wish that the pillow was Blake, but the thoughts were always dispelled when he imagined what his mother’s reaction to catching him in bed with a girl would be. But that just amplified how much he missed her constant presence. They’d said their goodbyes, but they had either been too lazy or too attached to end the relationship. Adam wasn’t willing to use a word so strong as love when describing how he felt about Blake, but he certainly cared an incredible amount for her.

Often, looking up to the moon made him wonder if Blake ever did the same thing. There had been a time the previous summer when they’d just sat on the roof of the apartment building and stared at the stars, curled up together in the nest of pillows and blankets they’d made. She’d ended up falling asleep on him, and he made the executive decision to just stay there for the night.

To that day, Adam had no idea how he’d woken up on the sofa, still holding her lithe body against his. Black magic, maybe? But his mother had been home that night, so black magic was still a viable option.

In his dreams that night, Adam’s curiosity set to work on its playground and he imagined an uncountable number of scenarios that he might find himself in during the leadership camp. Most of them were good, but he couldn’t help but ask himself what would happen if he wasn’t able to get along with anyone? If he was sidelined like had been his entire life in Mantle? What then would be the purpose of even attending?

That, his subconscious decided, was a thought for later.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Special Informations Note:  
> Lots of refferences to cannon here.  
> Also, if anyone’s read “Embers as Ashes”, I told you Miranda would become a regular in these stories.  
> Ahem, so anyways, before everyone gets their clubs and pitchforks, I’m purposely choosing to ignore Adam’s generally shitty personality and assuming that he grew up in at least a halfway decent home and isn’t the abusive asshole that he is in cannon. This is all a part of the “what if”s that I’m exploring, not only in this story, but in actual college right now. So yeah.  
> So anyways, in case you missed it last chapter, Adam’s “SDC” scar was replaced with a rather ugly set of scars from a car accident he was in during his junior year of high school. That stems from an incident I was involved in (much less severe) in my senior year regarding my hands.  
> As always, feedback is very welcomed, but please make sure you’re respectful and whatnot. It’s greatly appreciated.


	4. The Taurus Rose - Generalized Chaos

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Because one must eventually Adult

Unsurprisingly, Adam knew far too much about Vale and Beacon University. The school had been at the top of his list for a good portion of his life, especially once he’d figured out what career path he wanted to follow. Beacon was known for its criminal, political, and military sciences, and had one of Vale’s best working crime labs on campus. That addition alone was enough to make him drool in anticipation. It was a common occurrence to find the boy buried up to his neck in books on serial killers, the history of criminal justice in the four kingdoms, and news articles pertaining to advances in criminology and forensic science. 

In short, conversations with Adam Taurus could quickly become very unnerving.

Presently, Adam was up to his usual, spiteful studying. Holed up in a corner of the library, he sipped at his now-cold coffee as he poured over the review guides for his biology final. At least it was a highly visual class. Having an eidetic memory almost felt like cheating, but it wasn’t like he had an actual copy of the materials next to him. He just...remembered them? The little angel on his shoulder would have shrugged indifferently if it had an actual body.

He finished off the last sheet in the packet and made note of how long it had taken him to complete. Fifteen minutes wasn’t horrible, but he did know that the library would be closing soon. With a sigh, Adam clicked a button on the side of his headphones to increase the volume of his music as he began to reorganize his papers and books.

_...so I’ve been walking, I’m gonna find you..._

His biology exam was first thing the next morning, then history. He’d be fine, Adam assured himself. He just needed a good night’s sleep and a clear head.

_...I’ll count the days until I carry you home..._

Another tick louder. Adam slung his bag over his shoulder and snatched his jacket from the back of the chair. He debated taking the bus home, or simply walking. The decision was made for him the second he looked out the window at the pouring spring rain. Spring in Mantle meant frigid rains and bone-slicing winds. Perpetually grey skies and the occasional snow storm.

The bus seemed like the best option with the current state of the weather. Adam dropped his bag by his feet and tugged his jacket on, flipping the hood up before grabbing his bag again. Adam really hoped that Vale’s weather would be nicer, but he didn’t exactly have the highest standards in that regard. Anything was better than Northern Mantle.

He sat near the back, skimming through his emails absently, hoping that something would catch his eye eventually. Sure enough, there was one from an unfamiliar address. The tag line was enough to pique his curiosity, and Adam opened the message.

_Welcome to the HLA Family! We are so excited that you have accepted our invitation to join the program._

_I’m, Velvet Scarletina, a member of the 2018 cohort and the on-boarding intern for the HLA. I helped lead the student panel portion of interview day if you remember me. A little more about myself—I’m from Vacuo, and attended Shade Technical Academy for high school. I’m majoring in Photography and visual arts with a minor in Statistics. Besides HLA, I’m involved in a number of organizations on campus, including a local photographers’ association._

_I will be reaching out to you from now until your summer program in July. I’ll be sharing information with you about 5-8 times throughout the next couple of months with the hopes of getting to know you and answering any questions you may have about HLA or Beacon in general. Some of the topics I’ll be touching on include learning about one another, learning about your Resident Mentors for the summer program, discussing Student Orientation, Advising, and Registration, and more._

Adam let out a sharp puff of air, taking in all of the information he had just been slapped with. He skipped over a rather mundane part regarding student emails (he’d already set his up), and quirked a brow at the link he was instructed to open. There was, of course, three more paragraphs about formal orientation and registration and whatnot, and he figured he’s look at that more in-depth later on when his mother could help him make sense of it.

_Thanks,_

_Velvet Scarletina_

_Beacon University at Vale ǀ Undergraduate_

_College of Arts and Sciences ǀ Photography_

_Headmaster’s Leadership Academy ǀ Scholar and On-Boarding Intern_

Still attempting to commit the information to memory, Adam opened the link and bit the inside of his cheek. Personality surveys had never been his strong-suit, but now it seemed like he had no choice. He assumed it would be used to determine his roommate for the summer, another thought that sent shivers down his spine. Adam answered the questions to the best of his ability, sidestepping several darker aspects of his personality for the sake of not sounding too much like a sociopath. He was caught off-guard when the webpage asked for his hobbies and interests. Adam didn’t have many outside of reading and training with Miranda, but was that what he wanted to put down? Drawing a hesitant breath, Adam typed out his submissions.

_**Area of Study (if decided):** Criminal Justice/Forensic Science_

_**Hobbies:** Reading, Iaido,_

Adam hesitated for a moment again. There were just some things that no one outside of his family needed to know about him, but then again..

_**Hobbies:** Reading, Iaido, guitar_

_**Other Special Interests:** History of criminology, polisci._

_**Favourite Book/TV Show/Movie:** _

He narrowed his eyes at the screen. Of course that would be a question.

_**Favourite Book/TV Show/Movie:** Fahrenheit 452/Men Of Souls, A Look into the Criminal Mind_

The breaks on the bus hissed annoyingly, signaling the arrival of the next stop. Adam peaked out the window and stuffed his phone back in his pocket before standing. He was the only one to leave at that particular station, which always felt strange. The street was the epitome of dreary and run-down, the kind of aesthetic where one would expect to be mugged or see a drug deal in an alley, or even a murder. Even Adam was unnerved by it, and he was considerably more physically intimidating than most of the people he knew in the area.

He tugged his hood more over his face, carefully making sure his damaged eye was still covered by his messy hair.

Adam was soaked to the bone by the time he walked through the front door of the apartment. He made sure his shoes stayed on the mud mat and hung his jacket up on the coat tree, and even set his bag right next to his shoes until he could get a towel to dry it off. His mother was very picky about the tidiness of their home, and the last thing Adam wanted was a scolding from his mother the second she noticed a single speck of mud anywhere on her floors.

She was in the kitchen, waiting for a kettle of water to boil when Adam made his presence known. The woman all but forced a steaming mug of tea into his hands when she saw how wet he was, but Adam insisted that he just needed to “take a proper shower and change into something else”, and he would be fine.

“I presume you saw the email from the university?”

Adam had barely taken a single step out of the bathroom when his mother began her interrogation. He nodded, frozen mid-step like a dear in headlights and dripping wet from head to toe.

“Did you fill out the form?”

“Yes,” he said plainly. “May I go get dressed now?”

His mother held up her hands in mock surrender. “I was just making sure you did. These things are going to be your responsibility from now on.”

Adam pressed his lips into a thin, unamused line. “I figured as much.” And with that, he turned down the hall and disappeared into his room, leaving a trail of water in his path. Couldn’t that have waited? He decided it was just in his best interest to play along for the next few months, then it would all change in his favour. The HLA summer program, then full-time school again less then a month after that. Surely he could tolerate life that much longer.

But then again, Adam countered his own points, his mother was rather fussy when it came to nitpicking the details of his life, and it was only going to get worse now that he was about to be entirely on his own. Granted, the thought of being completely independent both excited and scared him. Didn’t trust himself enough to be responsible? To even remember to take care of himself? Adam pondered over the matter of his own habits for what seemed like ages as he dressed for bed and curled up in the windowsill with his guitar. Absently, he strummed various chords, eyes trained out the window and mostly out of focus.

He missed Blake’s weight against him when they would sit together in the window and watch the stars or the brilliant displays of lightning during storms. She’d sit between his legs with her head rested against his collar, and he’d loop an arm around her abdomen, the other usually playing with her hair. Her hands would be over his or folded in her lap, and for the most part, they would sit in peaceful silence, just observing their world. Would they have the chance to just sit like that again in the fall when they saw each other again? Maybe they’d get lucky and be in the same residence hall. All Adam could do was hope for the best as he picked up his phone and sent Blake a message containing a single purple heart. He rested his head against the wall and resumed playing.

_So close, no matter how far..._

The storm persisted, and a shock wave of thunder rattled the window.

_Couldn’t be much more from the heart..._

Adam looked down when his phone buzzed, displaying a simple “I miss you too” from his beloved.

_...and nothing else matters..._

May soon ended and with it Adam’s secondary education. He hated the charcoal grey cap and gown he was forced to wear for graduation, reasoning that it not only clashed with his completion, but with the gold and red, white, and blue cords he had managed to earn. His mother insisted that he looked just fine no matter what, even going so far as to pat his head like he was still a child. And to her, Adam still was, despite having turned eighteen moths prior.

Adam forced himself to smile as he passed the line of school administrators and board members as he accepted his diploma, shaking each of their hands and trying his best to ignore the pity behind their eyes when they saw his scars. Taking the “official” picture at the end of the line was a painful experience, but he pushed through it and managed a genuine smile. He was done. It was over. He could move on now and never look back. The weight of the world was off his shoulders, and by the time he was back in the lobby, he’d already removed the stupid cap and had fluffed his hair back up, making sure it covered his eye again.

His mother was beaming with pride when she spotted him in the crowd of students and their families, already opening her arms to suffocate him in a hug. Adam gladly accepted and reciprocated the gesture, tucking his face against her shoulder like he had as a child.

“I wish your father could have seen all of this...” She said softly, sounding like she was on the verge of tears. She held her son at arm’s length and looked up at him, smiling adoringly as she brushed her thumb across his scars. “He’d be so proud of your ambition, how you never gave up even when the worked turned its back.”

Adam refused to admit that he was getting a bit choked up, but that didn’t stop the tears from welling in his eye. “I know, mom.” He let out a long, somber breath. “I miss him... a lot.”

The woman nodded in understanding and patted his shoulder gently. “We can visit him, if you’d like to. You can tell him about Beacon, everything you’ve been up to and will be doing soon.” The suggestion was certainly something that had crossed Adam’s mind, but he’d been hesitant to ask. He knew that visiting his father’s grave was difficult for his mother, but since she had been the one to ask...

“I like that idea.”

Mantle’s public cemetery was nothing grand, nor was it breathtakingly beautiful. It looked rather like the rest of the decomposing city, with most of the graves left to be forgotten and to rot away. Many had eroded beyond repair, others so overgrown with moss that uncovering them would take too long to even consider attempting. Adam had never been sure what exactly to feel when he walked the cemetery’s gravel paths or in between tombstones, but it was certainly an unfavorable emotion. Mostly, he found him self moving without the consent of his mind, staring blankly out over the hills and to the horizon where, on a clear day, Atlas’s skyline could be seen. He knew that his hands trembled and his voice never worked right, that he would stare at his father’s grave for hours without a single thought if left uninterrupted, but he could never pin down what he felt. It was aggravating. Was it serenity? An overwhelming sense of calm? Or was he just empty? Void of all emotion the second he walked through the heavy iron gates, stripped of Self and Soul and left to be a hollow shell wandering among the dead?

He’d left his robes and cords on, but insisted on simply carrying his cap and tassel. For those, he had a special purpose. After winding through the twisted paths and up the furthest hill, Adam and his mother finally came to a halt beside a pair of tombstones. One read his mother’s name (Anya-Mari Keller) and her date of birth, and the other his father’s, Kerian Argo Taurus. According to the birth ad death dates, his father had been just barely 37 when he passed. Adam remembered it all too vividly, despite his age. He’d only been twelve, young and happy and full of pure, blind optimism for the world. One rival mafia Lieutenant with a gun had ended that very quickly. Anya could tell the change in her son after his father’s murder, and that change had haunted her since. But that did not change the fact that she was immeasurably proud of him.

Adam took a knee at his father’s grave and rested one hand atop the stone, bowing his head in respect and mourning. He stayed silent for a moment, eyes closed in prayer, before sitting back on his heels with his hands folded in his lap.

“Hey dad...” He paused, as if awaiting a response. “I um...I finally did it. Graduated. With honours, somehow. I don’t actually know how, but I suppose it all is working out how it’s supposed to.” Again, Adam allowed the silence of the surroundings to take over before continuing to speak. “And I made it into Beacon, just like I always said I would. Like you said I could. They even accepted me into a leadership program on the campus; evidently it’s highly selective and prestigious.” A sound that was somewhere between a strangled sob and a laugh escaped his lips. “Even after the accident, I kept going, and I got stronger, more resilient, just like you were...” He felt Anya’s hand on his shoulder and he leaned against his mother. “I miss you dad... A lot.” Adam had to pause when his voice snapped and tears began to streak down his face. He scrunched his nose in an attempt to get a grip on himself, but failed horribly. Anya carded her fingers through his hair soothingly, a trick that had worked since he was a small toddler. Even then, her touch brought Adam back to reality.

Hands shaking, Adam took the cap and tassel and propped it up against the tombstone. “I love you dad. And we miss you...”

A breeze kicked up atop the hill, playing with the loose fabric of their clothes and messing up their hair. Adam could have sworn he heard voices in the gusts, but it was likely just his imagination.

Taking a carefully measured breath, Adam braced himself on the stone and stood up. Once he did, he turned to his mother and pulled her into a hug, struggling to keep his composure. He was painfully aware of the damage that had been done, but no matter how hard he tried, there were still things that Adam clung to almost unhealthily.

He needed to let go...

Anya seemed thrilled to have something constructive to occupy her free time with. Already she’d made out colour-coded lists of things that her son would need during his time away, done the math to figure out approximately when she’d have to send more “supplies”, and had all but packed for him. Truth be told, it only served to stress Adam out even more. Often, he’d just sit back with a book or his guitar as she tried to rattle off her plans to him, intentionally ignoring all but the most important notes.

Of course, Adam kept to his word and dealt with whatever paperwork or surveys were thrown at him, only going to his mother when he truly couldn’t grasp a concept or understand what was being asked of him. He kept a packing list in the back of his mind at all times, almost like his own little rebellious fail-safe so that when the time came, he could prove that he had actually been concerned with the issues at hand rather than ignoring his mother entirely.

The weekend of his official orientation and registration was nothing short of stressful. Adam and his mother had only just arrived in Vale the night before, leaving them with little time to rest before the impending chaos of the day. The day was a bit warmer than he’d expected it to be, but that didn’t keep him from wearing long sleeves and a jacket the entire day. The shirt itself was blood red, loose-fitting, and soft where it touched his skin. The jacket was perhaps the darkest shade of black ever to exist, creating the perfect backdrop for the white nightshade that fanned out across his upper back and shoulders, and the overlying red rose than reached down to his hips. The jacket was one of Adam’s most prized possessions, as it bore elements from both his mother and father’s sides of the family and their respective crests. The nightshade from his mother, and the wilting rose from his father.

 _“Family will always have your back, Adam,_ ” His father would say to him, “ _And once you trust someone to that extent, they become your family as well.”_

Adam could think of only one other person outside of his parents whom he trusted to that particular level, and even the briefest thought of her made his heart beat just a little bit faster, made his cheeks tinge just a bit more pink. If presented with the chance, Adam would not hesitate to ask Blake if she would marry him.

Adam visibly cringed at the sea of green and gold that adorned the lobby of the main administration building. With his tendencies to gravitate towards reds and whites, and his own mop of flaming red hair, he’d look like Christmas if he ever even thought about wearing the University’s colours. With an exhausted sigh, Adam made his way though the sea of people to the check-in desk. The pair of girls that sat behind it could have been twins, and a quick glance at their name tags assured him that they were at least sisters.

Regardless, they were too chipper for so early.

“Hi! Did you complete your online registration?” The one on the right asked brightly.

Adam froze for part of a second before recalling what was being referenced. “Yes, I did.”

Right Twin grinned widely. “Perfect! What’s your last name, hun?”

“Taurus.”

Left Twin chimed in right then and there. “Like the zodiac?”

Adam sighed, thoroughly fed up with that question. “Yes, like the zodiac. And no,” he held his hand up to prevent any further annoyances, “I’m not a taurus. As ironic as that would be...”

Left Twin looked slightly put off, but her mirror image practically shoved a manila envelope into Adam’s hands before anyone could get another word out.

“And here’s your name tag and lunch tickets, hun,” Right Twin said encouragingly, “You can just go right down this hall here, they’ll take care of the next steps!”

Adam nodded tiredly and thanked them before walking off to find his mother. It was going to be a long, _long_ day...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Special Information Notes:  
> Good gods, my orientation was a nightmare in every sense of the word. Poor Adam, I didn’t want to have to make you suffer anymore in this part, but alas, Adult Life is weird and hard.  
> For the emails and survey information, I literally went in and copied the real email I got and changed up the names/majors (for obvious reasons). I wasn’t kidding when I said I literally cannot just make this shit up.  
> Also, I’m sorry but I needed a Tragic Anime Backstory for him, and I figured having Daddy Issues would somewhat contribute to both Cannon and This Particular Adam, so voila.  
> And finally, this is the last part of “The Taurus Rose”, so stay tuned for some incoming SSSN in “Sunshine and Lollipops”!  
> -Will


	5. Sunshine & Lolipops - Sand in Your Eyes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There’s always an odd one out...

The dining hall was crammed shoulder-to-shoulder with people of all sizes, shapes, colours, and whatever other distinctions Adam or his mother could think of, and he felt his anxieties skyrocket. So many unpredictable scenarios, unknown variables. If anything were to happen, Adam had absolutely no plan of attack or escape. That was not a situation he was fond of by any means.

Sensing his tension via whatever black magic all mothers seem to possess, Anya reached up and rested her hand on her son’s shoulder. She squeezed lightly, a reminder that she wasn’t going anywhere any time soon.

“Talk me through you’re part of the day so far.”

She was distracting him.

Adam swallowed the massive lump in his throat and let her guide him to the salad bar. “It’s been good. The guide is most definitely...loud.” He let out a short, heavy sigh that deflated the entirety of his lungs. “But I like the campus. It’s not as cold here.”

Anya nodded and passed him a plate. “Mmm, do you know when we have to meet with your advisor?”

“Not until two.” Olives seemed like a good idea. Did they have olives? “Seventh floor of the library.”

Another nod. “Tell me more about your guide. I want to know who all my son is gonna be hanging around these next few years.” Anya punctuated her statement with a teasing grin that only a mother could pull off.

Adam pressed his lips into a thin line as he poured dressing on his salad. He wasn’t sure what possessed him to pick up the vinaigrette, but there was no turning back. “Yang, incoming senior in marine biology. Black belt, could definitely kill someone if she wanted to.”

“Intimidated?”

Adam’s face screwed itself up in a strange series of expressions, one right after the other. “No! Why would I be? Mom, I deal with the White Fang all the time on my own, why would one marine biologist who’s a head and a half shorter than me be intimidating?”

Anya shrugged and led him through the suffocating crowd to an open table along the outskirts of the building. Her silence was a typical response to Adam’s occasional flares of arrogance, and the boy had long since learned to just ignore it. He knew she was carefully mulling over her thoughts and crafting the perfect motherly lecture.

Adam poked at his salad absently, chin rested on his palm and eyes lapsing in and out of focus. Tuning out the noise of the dining hall was impossible. Even his mother’s voice was mostly lost to the sea of conversation around them. He’d never really been one for crowds that he couldn’t win over or even stand out in, but there, Adam and his mother were just another pair of faces among hundreds. There was nothing special about the scared boy from Solitas or his mother from Patch. It was easily ten minutes before he actually took a bite of his food, but even with the vinegar and olives, it was bland. Maybe his senses were just overloaded to the point of numbness? Already Adam had far too much emotional baggage to unpack that night.

He took a deep, steadying breath and set his fork down.

“Are you nervous?”

Adam looked up at his mother. Without his glasses, she was a familiar blur of vague colours and shapes, but he knew she was giving him The _Look_. It was a genuine question, but still he hesitated to answer. He really didn’t want to admit to nerves or any kind of weakness, not with such a major change coming up. That would leave him vulnerable and susceptible to a possible nervous breakdown. So yes, Adam Taurus was nervous. And anxious. And generally petrified. But no, he would not be admitting that anytime soon. If there was one lesson he’d learned from his time dealing with Mantle’s worst crowds, it was to never show any vulnerability.

“No. Why would I be nervous?”

Anya shot him a deadpan look that would make a dead man flinch. But whatever annoyances or frustrations were held in her face were not expressed in her voice or her words. “Adam, I know what it’s like to just pick up and move someplace new and so incredibly different from home. Nerves are natural, and not having them is worrisome.” She let out a measured breath, eyes drifting out the window in thought. It had begun to rain. “I know we’ve had this discussion a thousand times-“

Adam cut her off bitterly. “Then we’re not having it again.”

“Fine, but you’re going to have to learn to break down some of those walls or else you’re _absolutely not_ going to succeed in this program.”

By this point in his life, Adam should have figured out how to properly plan for an extended leave of absence, or at the very least, how to sort through his clothes for what he should and should not be packing, especially since the Academy had sent a demonstration list. But no. He most certainly had not figured it out. Adam had spent a week just doing the math on how many times a week he’d have to do laundry for each version of the list he’d come up with (the most being only three times, and the least being once, but he just could not seem to find the happy medium). Assuming he could wear the same two pairs of pants two or three times a week and change shirts once each day, he could have fourteen different outfits. But he also had to account for various levels of formality and business attire. Would one pair of dress pants and a nice shirt be acceptable if he also packed his suit? Or should he take two dress shirts and a suit?

And dear Gods, he had absolutely no idea what to do about shoes.

At least undergarments were a no-brainer. One pair for each day, take two extra just in case. Laundry once a week.

Blake had found his fashion predicament to be nothing short of amusing, which only served to frustrate him more. She’d gotten a good giggle from Adam’s reaction to finally realizing just how much black he owned, making a remark about his closet looking very much like an empty void. All he could do was accept the reality of his situation and move on.

And then came the fiasco of everything else he needed to pack in order to furnish the dorm. Of course there was a wardrobe and a bed and all of the other necessary furniture, but he would need a place to store food and a set of bedsheets. And toiletries. Adam very quickly found himself wondering how in the world he’d survived past the age of seven with his grotesquely lacking skill at basic life functions.

Curled up on a corner of his bed in a mess of pillows and blankets, Adam sat with his glasses threatening to fall off his face as he stared at the updated list Blake was helping him formulate. So far, they had figured two business casual outfits, one suit, three pairs of long pants, one pair of shorts, and a small variety of shirts, all with various levels of functionality and style. It was warmer in Vale than it was in Mantle, Blake assured him, so most of the outfits had been planned with heat in mind.

But there was one thing that still needed to be addressed before they could proceed any further.

“I still don’t know how we’re supposed to transport all of this on a hover,” Adam mussed, resting his chin on the pillow he held to his chest. “Mom might have to consider sucking it up and getting on a boat.”

On the other end of the video call, Blake frowned. “You’re not entirely wrong. There’s always the option of asking your roommate what they’re bringing.”

Adam narrowed his eyes at her. “He’s from Mistral,” he said sourly. “That’s not going to work.”

Blake offered a tight-lipped frown. “You’re smart. I know you’ll figure it out.”

“Little things like suitcases aren’t the issue, Blake,” he strained to reach the list that was cast aside on his nightstand. Was it actually worth the effort? Adam let out a small, triumphant squeak when his fingers closed around the papers. “Its appliances and the actual cost of shipping them.”

On her end of the call, Blake sighed deeply. Once she’d collected her thoughts, she gave him a stern look. “Adam, you have time. Talk to your mom. You don’t have to do this alone.”

Adam tipped his head back against the wall and pealed his glasses from his face before draping an arm over his eyes dramatically. He was exhausted, but he’d never admit it. Since graduating, he’d taken a temporary instructional job with Miranda, and the days he worked were long and full of action. Added to the stress of preparing for university and the damned summer program, Adam hadn’t been sleeping more than four hours a night, and the sleep he did get was restless. The result was a low tolerance for bullshit and a generally short temper.

“You’re going to burn yourself out if you don’t slow down.”

For once, not even Blake’s velveted voice offered any comfort, not when she was so painfully right. Adam could feel his own will running thin, his energy draining. He let her remark hang in the air for several tense minutes, before the stiffening silence was broken by a bone-shattering crack of thunder. It held it’s grip on the sky for longer than necessary, and Adam instinctively curled deeper into his ridiculous pile of pillows.

He took a deep breath, letting the thunder roll over his conscious. When he opened his eyes, Adam couldn’t help but smile when he saw Blake again, eyes wide and fearful -clearly, she’d heard the deafening thunder as well.

“I know, I know.”

Blake’s shoulder’s lost the tension they previously held. “You’ll be alright, love. Just take it in strides. You’ve got a lot of good people behind you, use your resources.”

“I don’t know what I’d do without you, my love,” he spoke sweetly, entirely unsure how to express how he felt. Emotions just...escaped him. More than once Adam worried about how his general lack of emotional response affected their relationship. Would it be their end one day? Adam didn’t want to think about anything even remotelyclose to that. It just... It hurt to think about loosing her.

Another crack of thunder shook him out of his self-induced misery.

“I’ve said it once, I’ll say it again; you’re going to be alright.”

_You’re going to be alright._

The tenth floor of Overmann Hall offered a view that was incomparable to those offered by the other residence halls. Arguably, it was the best on campus. Excluding the views enjoyed by the aviation students as they soared overhead. From the tenth floor, the brick and concrete buildings crested over the lush green trees, parting only to reveal even greener patches of grass where students could lounge about and study on nice days. In the distance, communication towers popped up and displayed their blinking lights, and the occasional water tower made an appearance. For miles, all one could see was the tops of the trees, bloomed in full for summer.

Adam’s room faced south, and with it came a view of the very edges of Vale’s old downtown district, though not much could actually be seen under the trees. While Adam himself was no stranger to such kinds of views, it was strange to look out and not see the outline of a grand city. At first, he paid the view no mind, having been far too preoccupied with figuring out the mechanics of the adjustable bed. But when he did notice it, he paused. The wind was drawn from his lungs and his eyes went wide behind his glasses. He’d never seen so much green or so much space between buildings.

It took an incredible amount of willpower for him to tear his eyes away from the window long enough to start helping his mother and his roommate’s family loft the beds. With a lift and a tug, the metal joint slipped from its socket and the bubbly blonde he’d be rooming with lifted the frame up and into a new slot. They repeated the process of lift and tug thrice more on Adam’s bed before he and the other boy shoved it back against the wall and moved to his. The other bed went far smoother and quicker, now that they knew what they were doing. When it was done, the blonde -he’d gladly introduced himself as Sun (“like the star, not the relation”)- hopped up onto the mattress to test its strength. It was only then that Adam realized that he’d made a rather sizable mistake by how much he’d raised his bed. There was no way in hell that he was nimble enough to actually get in and out of bed in the middle of the night when he was half asleep.

The rest of the morning and early afternoon went by smoothly, however for too fast. Adam would never outwardly admit it, but he was reluctant to actually bid farewell to his mother at the end of the opening brunch. She wasn’t crying, but Adam knew that she would likely be in tears by the time she boarded her flight back to Mantle.

If it was possible for freedom to feel suffocating, Adam had found that feeling. He hadn’t even realized that his mind was blank and that he’d been staring off into nothingness when Sun came up behind him and clapped him on the shoulder.

“C’mon! RM’s have a bunch of stuff planned for this afternoon.” Sun’s grin was infectious, although not quite enough to stretch a smile across Adam’s face. It was a strange sort of conflict, deeply rooted in his subconscious, and he wondered how may of the others felt the same. Professor Ozpin had stated with utter certainty that they would not be the same people when they left, but would he change too much? And to what end? For the better? Hell, Adam had no idea what “better” could even mean in this context.

“You look like you’re expecting to get hit by a stray meteor...” Sun noted, quirking a brow inquisitively. When Adam offered no response other than a vague shrug, he continued on. “Don’t worry. It’s gonna take some getting used to for all of us.”

Adam was inclined to agree with that part. With the first round of ice-breakers out of the way, it had been confirmed that there was only one person from around Vale, and even said individual admitted to being a bit freaked out by everything. So logically, Adam was perfectly aware that he wasn’t alone in his inevitable struggle, but it just didn’t feel like it. Everyone seemed so calm and collected (and Adam probably did too, but according to Blake, his poker face needed work) and that unnerved him even more than a room full of nervous, panicking teenagers. Maybe if at least one other person was visibly loosing their composure, he’d be more at ease.

A speck of grey flashed in Adam’s peripheral and looked back over his shoulder. At some point in time, Mercury -one of their “resident mentors”, as Professor Ozpin had called them- had fallen into step beside them.

“So.”

His hands were stuffed in his pockets nonchalantly, only adding to his “I just rolled out of bed and don’t want to be here” aesthetic. Adam had to give the man props; Mercury was effortlessly handsome, and it annoyed him to no end. It wouldn’t have surprised him a bit if Mercury was the guy that all the girls on campus had a crush on at one point or another. The same could be said for Sun, most likely. He held a very particular boyish charm that would likely trap the attention of the female population very quickly.

“Any opinions on the dorms yet?” Mercury peaked over at the pair, expression vastly unreadable.

Adam opened his mouth, ready to start gushing about the breathtaking view he’d noticed, but Sun beat him to the vocals.

“It’s a lot bigger than I was expecting,” he chirped brightly, “I was here last fall for college visits and I took a tour of one of the other halls and man! Those rooms were small. I couldn’t even breathe in there!”

Mercury laughed to himself, apparently knowing exactly what Sun was referring to. “That’s Kholen. I lived there my freshman year.” He shuddered. “Yeah, those rooms are ridiculous. What about you, Adam? Did you get unpacked and settled in alright this morning?”

Adam stopped in his tracks for a moment to clean his glasses off as he spoke. “I like the view the best. Mantle is very industrial, so we don’t have very much green space. And what we do have is dead most of the year because of the weather.”

“I understand that one,” the older boy huffed, “I was raised out in Skiff, on the West End.”

The redhead winced. “That’s rough. I was always told to avoid Skiff just because of the gang wars.”

Mercury scoffed and bent over, rapping his knuckles on his leg. The resulting sound was almost metallic, like banging on a plastic chair. “Yeah, tell me about it. So wait, I don’t mean to sound indelicate, but are you fully blind in that eye?”

Adam’s brows shot up into his hairline. “What? Oh, yes, I am. And have an astigmatism in the other. I can’t see shit without these.” He punctuated his statement with a slight shake of his glasses before he put them back on his face. “It’s sad, really.”

“Buddy, you’re talking to a double amputee.” The smile the pulled at Mercury’s lips was faint, but it was there. “Beacon is known for taking broken things like us and giving us purpose and belonging more than we could have ever hoped for. This program especially. You’re both going to learn a lot about yourselves, and it’s really worth it.”

Even with his glasses back on his nose, Adam hadn’t been paying enough attention to his surroundings to realize that they had made their way outside and we’re halfway back to their residence hall. Was he really that prone to conversational blackouts? How many times had he spaced out when talking to Blake? His mother? It was impossible to tune out conversations with Miranda, just because of the level of focus it took to interpret her chaotic signing. That would definitely be something he’d need to work on that summer; his attention span.

“...part of your summer program?”

“Camp Campbell. It’s chaotic, but it’s worth it.”

“Gonna spoil it?”

“Nah.”

“You’re no fun.”

The afternoon went by in a blur of names and faces that would take Adam until the end of the program to remember. Most of the crew was far too cheerful and chummy already by dinner, a charm that Adam had managed to expertly resist all day. As usual, he tucked himself in a corner of the dining hall and watched the others interact, trying his best to at least place names with faces as he nibbled on a pork sticker.

Sun, he knew all too well already. The boy was happily bouncing between tables, trying to keep conversations alive.

There was a redhead that stuck pretty close to him, with an earful of silver piercings. Scarlet, if Adam remembered correctly. It was one of those names where Adam would kick himself if he ever failed to make the association.

Beside him was another relatively silent one, whose gender Adam still had yet to place. Long black hair and penchant for pink told him “girl”, but the voice said “boy”. That one was an enigma named Lie Ren, and Adam wasn’t sure how much he liked them.

Roman Torchwick was both a face and a persona that Adam, nor anyone else, for that matter, could not easily forget. Six kinds of chaos rolled up into one charismatic ginger with a knack for eyeliner and turning all odds around in his favor, no matter how daunting. Adam really was not sure what to think of him, but would happily want him on his side in any sort of gambling venture.

Then there was Cinder Fall, another Mistral-native that had certainly captured Adam’s interests. She had a calm and intimidating air about her, and Adam was curious to pick apart the layers of her personality to see what hid behind her icy persona. But there was something else about her and Roman both that set his nerves on end. Maybe it was the way her eyes seemed to bore into the sound of everyone she looked at... 

Adam caught himself before he could continue his round of judgements, reminding himself that he was supposed to withhold such thought until he got to know them. But there was one that he really didn’t think he’d ever-

“And what do you think you’re doing all alone over here, mister?”

Adam froze, half out of his seat with every intention of going for dessert and coffee. He must’ve looked like an Ursa caught in headlights...

“...eating dinner?” Why had it come out as a question? Adam knew precisely what he was doing, _and_ that he preferred to do it _alone_. 

Ruby Rose, resident fireball and pricey insurance liability, had taken it upon herself to try and -he assumed- make Adam feel more welcomed in the group. With a deep, annoyed sigh, Adam scooped up his plate and made his way into the main dining room. He just wanted a moment of peace...

“Heeeeyyyy!”

Oh the gods really did have a vendetta.

Adam refused to slow down, but didn’t protest when she finally caught up to him in the bussing line.

“Sooo, how’s your first day going?”

She was small enough, he could probably punt her halfway across the campus.

“It’s fine.”

Ruby bounced a bit in place and clapped her hands all too cheerfully. “Well so far so good, that’s a good thing! Are you gonna come to the lounge tonight and watch movies with us?”

He tried to tune her out, turning his attention to the myriad of colorful desserts the dining hall had to offer. Something with cherries sounded good. And chocolate would pair nicely with the hazelnut coffee...

“....all the new superhero movies! Nora’s awesome like that- Oh! Maybe we can convince Ren to tell us about his kettle corn recipes! Nora’s been gushing about it forever....”

Chocolate cupcakes with cherry filling. That sounded good. Maybe with a bit of vanilla ice cream to complement the chocolate?

“....Pyrrha too! She’s got a thing for all that health food stuff like tofu. I don’t know how people can live on rabbit food like that...”

Adam let her hover as he moved down the line to the coffee bar, sweets successfully obtained. With such a variety of foods to try, he’d have to be exceptionally mindful of his weight.

“....kind of like that too, but I’m sure he could make all of those leafy foods taste good...”

Miraculously, Ruby managed to remain by Adam’s side all the way back to the annex where their group had been sitting, and had not stopped talking, even to take a breath. It was mildly impressive, but annoying nonetheless.

Ruby sighed, a squeaky, frustrating sound that reminded him vaguely of a squeaky chew toy. “So, where ya from?”

Adam peered over his glasses at her, thankful that she (and everything else, for that matter) was just a dark blur of colors. “Mantle.”

“Ooo Weiss too! Well,” Ruby stopped herself from continuing, pursing her lips in thought. “Weiss is from Atlas, actually. I sort of forget that it’s two different places sometimes.”

She wasn’t entirely wrong, and as such, he couldn’t quite find it in his heart to fault her. Technically speaking, Atlas and Mantle were under the same jurisdiction, no matter how much either party opposed the thought.

“Honestly, I think most everyone here is from Mistral...” Ruby tacked on wistfully, staring out the window over Adam’s shoulder.

With peace and quiet finally in his grasp, Adam had absolutely no idea what possessed him to continue the conversation. “What about you?”

Ruby looked just as surprised. “Who, me? Oh, I’m from Patch. It’s just off the coast here.”

It was only then that Adam realized just how much of a child she looked to be, and before he could think, the question just fell out. “Aren’t you a little young to be in college?”

Ruby shrugged and waved off his confusion. “Yeah, but I got ahead in school, so they let me in early. I’m a special case.”

“I’m sure you are,” he deadpanned, loathing Ruby’s enthusiasm.

“So what’s your major?”

It took all of Adam’s willpower not stand up and walk off right then and there. Better to humor her, he supposed. “Criminal psychology and sociology.” He was far too wrapped up in his own annoyance to notice the new, blue-haired presence beside Ruby, grinning like a madman.

“Hey, me too! Do you have psych 101 this fall?”

There was absolutely no way Adam could foresee himself surviving the summer. Not surrounded by such a cheerful band of idiots...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Special Information Notes: ah, so yeah, my first day was super weird and awkward, and yes, I was on the tenth floor of my residence hall and the view was absolutely spectacular. There’s one particular ball of sunshine in my cohort, and yes, said person is basically Ruby. We’ll see how long it takes Adam to warm up to everyone...   
> Spoiler, it took me two weeks.


End file.
